Inside the World's First Braille Cellphone

Around the world, 285 million people are blind or visually impaired; over a fifth of them, or nearly 63 million, live in ­India. Entrepreneur Sumit Dagar wants to be their Alexander Graham Bell: Sometime in the next 12 months he’ll be rolling out the world’s first braille cellphone. His company, Kriyate, has drawn up the first prototype, pictured here. Dagar says that test users found it difficult to imagine dynamic braille on such a small device. “But once they comprehend it, the joy is so immense. That’s what makes us most happy.” On the drawing board are plans for an even more advanced phone with a camera that can translate text to braille and images to raised relief figures on the device’s “display.”

Inside the World's First Braille Cellphone

Around the world, 285 million people are blind or visually impaired; over a fifth of them, or nearly 63 million, live in ­India. Entrepreneur Sumit Dagar wants to be their Alexander Graham Bell: Sometime in the next 12 months he’ll be rolling out the world’s first braille cellphone. His company, Kriyate, has drawn up the first prototype, pictured here. Dagar says that test users found it difficult to imagine dynamic braille on such a small device. “But once they comprehend it, the joy is so immense. That’s what makes us most happy.” On the drawing board are plans for an even more advanced phone with a camera that can translate text to braille and images to raised relief figures on the device’s “display.”